At this time, October 2021, I am coming to you from our brother Hector Roche’s sound booth in Bogota, Colombia. Hector does our Spanish recordings, and (praises to Yahweh) the Spanish channel is beginning to really take off in the number of subscribers.
The reason that I am here is that we are hoping to establish a set-apart community in Colombia. And not just in Colombia, but all around the world, in order to help people both survive the end-times and also fulfill the will of our Father in Heaven and His Son. Once we understand the role of the set-apart community, we then realize just how important it is to live in a set-apart community, and that it is Yahweh’s will for His people. So if we want to please Him and to be found pleasing on the day of judgment, this is something we need to do. As we study more and more into this topic, we will find that set-apart community (like the two houses or the ancient Hebrew wedding ceremony) is a topic built right into Scripture. Or ‘baked right into the cake’, so to speak.
Well, we had a lot of questions. But one of the things we spoke about in Set-Apart Communities Part 1 was the duck test. Because a lot of people are walking of faith that really does not seem to pass the duck test. And the duck test is of course that when you want to know if you have a duck you just take a look at it and listen to it. Does it look like a duck? Does it quack like a duck? Does it swim like a duck? And if it does then it is probably a duck. But if it does not show the fruits of a duck and if it does not manifest the same characteristics as a duck, then it is probably not a duck.
There are a lot of people who are looking at their faith and they are asking these questions,
Is this really the faith once delivered to the saints?
If it is the faith once delivered to the saints, then should it not look like the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints?
So for those of us who are interested in wanting to earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints we give this part-two in our presentation of Set-Apart Communities. We are going to take a short detour and we are going to answer a lot of questions that were asked to us, some excellent questions. And hopefully, this is going to answer those questions. But there is a lot of good information here that you and your family need to know if you are hoping to be found approved in that day.
In Set-Apart Communities Part 1, we talked about how there are basically two different types of settlements in Scripture, two different types of set-apart community. One is called the Moshav and the other is not really called the Kibbutz, but many people understand what a Kibbutz is and that this type of community is also implied in Scripture. First, we are going to talk about the Moshav and then we will talk about the Kibbutz later.
A Moshav can also be thought of as a dwelling place. The term Moshav (Moshavoteichem or another variance thereof) appears about 44 times in Scripture. We can think about it as a neighborhood, a settlement, an enclave, or an encampment. It is a group, or in Spanish, we might call it a barrio. Basically, it is where like-minded and like-believing people come to band together, to help each other and also to protect themselves from hostile outside forces. For example, when Israel settled in the land they settled into their 12 tribal inheritances (allotments) and then the 12 tribes dwelt together, helped each other, and also defended together against enemies. This is how people lived in the 12 tribes, whether we are talking about Yissaskar, Zebulun, Shimeon, Gad, Asher, Judah, or Reuven. Any of the 12 tribes apart from Levites. Basically, they dwelt in encampments out of both necessity and out of mutual benefit. They lived together as a society and a community.
Well in a Moshav (dwelling place) the tribes were free to do what they wanted (in accordance with the Torah). They had what we might call a normal life. The members of the tribe could have their own businesses if they had the means. They could have their own farms and their own lands, they could buy and sell or do commerce, they could basically pursue normal lives. They could have houses, maybe more than one house and they could have an inheritance. So, as a member of one of the 12 tribes, you could have wealth and you could have an inheritance to pass on to your children. You could send them to college or whatever. Just for example and for the point of it, you could set up a college, build a car factory, whatever you wanted to do back in those days. They did not have those things back then, but that is just to give an idea of a parallel. Basically, you were free to do whatever it was that you wanted to do.
Let us take a look at this in the Strong’s Hebrew Concordance. Because that is what we like to do!
Strong’s Hebrew Concordance
H:4186 (מוֹשָׁב) môshâb môshâb
mo-shawb’, mo-shawb’
From H:3427; a seat; figuratively a site; abstractly a session; by extension an abode (the place or the time); by implication population: – assembly, dwell in, dwelling (-place), wherein (that) dwelt (in), inhabited place, seat, sitting, situation, sojourning.(Shev = sit. Yeshiva = school)
Moshav is often used in the sense of being a seat. For example, let us look at Psalms chapter 1.
Tehillim (Psalms) 1:1-2
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the unrighteous, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat [dwelling place] of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the Torah of Yahweh, and in His Torah he meditates day and night.
Basically, this is saying that the righteous are not going to live in the neighborhoods (dwelling places, encampments) of the unrighteous. And this is one of the reasons why our more devout Jewish brothers tend to live in neighborhoods. They tend to find places where they can raise their families together. Well, if you are a member of one of the tribes (Zebulun, Naftali, Gad, Asher, Judah…) you can basically do whatever you feel like for work. And then you can join in with the synagogue activities in your Moshav (barrio, neighborhood). So again, the members of a Moshav basically lived what we might think of as normal lives, like people who go to a synagogue, church, or Messianic assembly today. They will go to the assembly but then when they go home they go about their normal lives. In ancient Israel, you could be a good member of the community and in good standing so long as you paid your tithes and also perform the rest of the Torah. We will talk about the three tithes closer to the end of this series.
But it is important to understand that you had two different types of leadership in ancient Israel. You had what you call your temporal (your natural leadership). Because the things of this world are temporal, they are temporary. This world is passing away and the things of it. So you would have temporal leadership, both economic and military. Because those two things often went together in ancient times. The leaders of your Moshav were the elders who would sit in the gates. They were generally the rich and they tended to have Proverbs 31 brides who supported them in their efforts. And then sitting in the gates they could see who was coming and going. You might say they had better intel on what is going on, the caravans that were passing through, these kinds of things. They knew how to position themselves to do well in business. There are certain advantages to being one of the elders of a town.
In context, we have our leaders over tens, fifties, hundreds, and thousands, and then they in turn report to the tribal elders. And then you have the tribal elders plus some others that would be part of the 70 elders which formed the Beit Din (big house of judgment, big court), also called the Sanhedrin in renewed covenant times. But it was just a council where the men of consequence got together to discuss things like how to best lead the town. Because this is where their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren lived. So they had a vested interest in helping the town turn out right.
In addition to that, you also had the spiritual leaders of the Moshav. In ancient times (before Yeshua’s came) the spiritual leaders of the Moshav were the Levites. Then, after Babylon, you would have the rabbis, but that is a separate issue. We will deal with that in some other place.
The way the Levites were divided is they would have cities in each of the areas. Some of the Levites would dwell in each one of the cities but they did not report to the Beit Din Gadol. Ultimately, they reported to the High Priest. But the point we are trying to make is that, even though you had your Moshav, even though you have the region of Ephraim or the region of Manasseh, still you would have some Levites within that Moshav. And very often the Levites within that Moshav had a totally different scheme of organization, which we are going to refer to this here as, the Kibbutz.
Before we talk about the Kibbutz, we should also talk about the fact that today, effectively, spiritual leadership is part of the Melchizedekian Order. Meaning, Yeshua’s order, Yeshua’s priesthood, which (forgive my saying so) is Nazarene Israel and accept no substitutes. Because there are a lot of substitutes out there but at the end of the day they are not going to benefit you the same way that Nazarene Israel is. Please forgive my saying so, but we are speaking the truth in love here.
So, in the dispersion, you still have temporal leadership in the goy nations in which we live. For example, in most nations, you will have a president or a prime minister. some nations have a king. Eventually, many of them also report to the bankers. We will talk about that in some other place as well. But again, we have the same kind of a thing. Even though the situation is different we can see that there are many parallels, and we are operating on the same principles (precepts). We have a gentile chain-of-command in the nations, we have to go through the government, and the governments of the world report to the black horse bankers of the world. We talk about that in the Revelation series, in the book study Revelation and the End Times, and in the transcripts for the “Revelation Simplified”.
But the point is that there is also spiritual servant-leadership in the nations of the world. And at this particular juncture in time we are being called to restore and re-establish the true community system. Because we are going to see it is effectively baked right into the cake, it is part of Scripture, it is something that Elohim expects of us. And there are ways to do it right and there are many ways to do it wrong. And many of us have been burned by those who have done it wrong. We do not want to do it wrong, we do not want to get burned anymore. We just want to do it right. So we are broadcasting this information to try to find those of you who also want to do it right. Those who have sat down and have counted the cost and want to do things right. And for the rest, you are free to partake of the information.
The term Kibbutz basically refers to a social collective (commune) kind of a system. And again, the term Kibbutz does not actually appear in Scripture. But it literally means a gathering or a clustering. Singularly, it is called Kibbutz, in the plural form it is called Kibbutzim.
A kibbutz (Hebrew: קִבּוּץ (קיבוץ, lit. “gathering, clustering”; plural: kibbutzim קִבּוּצִים קיבוצים.
When our brothers in Judah came back to the land of Israel in 1948, they started many Kibbutzim (communes). They were typically agricultural in nature because you can do this kind of a thing in an agricultural system. You need more than one family and so everyone they would pitch in, and they would do these things. But the problem is that the Kibbutz system (the social collective system, for lack of a better term) that is used by the Levitical order and the Melchizedekian order is not really appropriate for use by the 12 tribes. Because if you live in one of the 12 tribes, basically you need to follow the profit and loss model. The 12 tribes are in what we might call a capitalistic system whereas the social collective system (Kibbutz system) is much more appropriate for spiritual governance (spiritual leadership). So, this is the system we are attempting to establish here in Colombia. But we are going to talk about what the differences are and what things can go wrong if you try to adopt a Kibbutz model and apply it in a secular sense, as was done in the Soviet Union as well as in many other countries where they tried to establish secular socialism. It just does not work because it is just not built for that.
Now there are exceptions to the rule. Many people are familiar with a semi-famous example in the Messianic world. There is a one-house Messianic Jewish Kibbutz (Messianic Jewish commune) called Ramat Rachel or Rachel’s hills, located on the southeastern border of Jerusalem. And so, last I have heard, Ramat Rachel is one of the few active communes still in Israel today.
Now, remember from our studies on the two houses that there was a division in the neighbors in the nation of Israel. And you had 10 tribes that went north and were scattered off into the world. Yeshua has come for them, we are following Yeshua, that is how we know we are of those lost 10 tribes. Actually lost 12 tribes, because there are remnants of all the tribes that are gathered together under the Ephraimite banner (headship).
But the Levites all went south to the southern kingdom where the temple was. and so there is a lot of Levitical influence. And so our Jewish brothers and sisters tend to have a preference for the social and collective kinds of models. These kinds of things are written into the Talmud and that is why they are attempting to establish communism and socialism throughout the world today. Because they are basically looking at it through a Levite set of lenses. If you look at the world through Levi’s eyes, you are going to come up with a Levite worldview. And they are going to attempt to establish global socialism and global communism, and it is not going to work. We talk about that in the study on Revelation and the End Times. Father willing, if we ever get time, I would love to do Revelation and the End Times, Part Two. There is so much good information we could if we could just get there. There are so many priorities and so many things. We believe that said that set-apart community is a higher priority at this particular moment in time.
But again, the point we are trying to make is that the collective (Kibbutz) system is not really appropriate for those of the 12 tribes. Those of the 12 tribes should have a Moshav system with basically a capitalist free market system. And then paying their three tithes. That is what they should do. They will have Kibbutzim, they will have spiritual leadership in the Moshav. But to establish a Kibbutz is not appropriate if you are not part of spiritual leadership.
Okay. We have covered government leadership. So, whether we are talking government as temporal leadership (government) or a Kibbutz (Melchizedekian or the Levitical orders) in terms of spiritual leadership and spiritual governance, there is a need for a distribution system within government. For example, in the United States, you have what is called the Internal Revenue Service. They are the tax collection agency. Well, they do not just collect all the taxes themselves and keep them for themselves, but they have to then distribute it throughout the government with the help of the treasury. So, that the whole of the government can be funded.
Now let us dive in a little deeper. The Kibbutz is a social collective system. With both the Levitical Order and the Melchizedekian Order we can see elements of this social collectivist system. One of the differences is that with the 12 tribes (Moshav community) you could choose your own job and you could work at whatever you wanted. If you had the resources and capability you could start your own company, you could buy and sell lands, you could do the necessary means in order to become rich, or you could follow your artistic pursuits. Whatever you wanted to do.
That is not the case under the Kibbutz, under the social collective system. For example, the Levites did not choose their jobs. The Levites were born into their jobs. If you were a Levite, you were born in and you were assigned your work. And then hopefully you did your job as well as you could and then you received your payment. If you were of a priestly cast then you were born into that. And you were assigned to function and that is how it went.
The other thing is that the Levites of course had children, but they did not have any inheritance to pass along to their children. And as Josephus tells us in other places, the reason why is that Levites were supposed to receive enough income to focus upon doing the job full-time. Because if you are going to be a good Levite you are going to be very, very busy. There were probably lazy ones that did not do a good job just like how today there are lazy government employees or lazy ministers who preach a broad and easy road. It is much, much easier to be lazy about your job if you do not truly fear Yahweh Elohim. But if you are going to do the job right you are going to be busy and you are going to do a lot of work.
So, we talk about the Levites in the Tanakh (Older Testament or Covenant). Again, they had no inheritance in the land because Yahweh Elohim was supposed to be their inheritance. Their job was to focus on the work full-time and then they receive the tithes, gifts, and offerings of the people in return to support them and their families so that they could afford to stay focused on the work full-time. This is much in the same way as governments today work. They pay a good salary because they are supposed to be honest people, do their jobs and work hard, and ethically, without engaging in graft or corruption. They are supposed to do the job correctly.
Now, just to be clear, some land was also assigned to the tribes. They had Levite cities that were assigned, also cities of refuge, and those cities could have fields around them. But this land was held at the tribal level in order to benefit all of the Levites within all the tribe of Levi. And that land was scattered throughout all the nation of Israel. So, the Levites worked at the temple (or tabernacle) service, and then they received the tithes, gifts, and offerings of the people in exchange for their service. And Josephus tells us that the reason they did that was so that they could focus on doing the work full-time. They did not really have time to go out and buy and sell lands, start electronics companies, and colleges, and these kinds of things. We know they did not have those things back then but just to understand the parallels, if you are going to be in the priesthood (Levitical or Melchizedekian) you need to stay focused on that job. Because there is plenty of work to do. So, if you belong to one of the tribes you are welcome to do whatever it is you please (in accordance with Torah). Just pay your three tithes so that the priesthood (whether it is a Levitical or Melchizedekian) can afford to stay focused on their work full-time.
Because again, our job is effectively to establish a global kingdom for Elohim. That was understood in the Levitical Order. We understand in the Melchizedekian Order that our job is to be Proverbs 31 brides for Him and to establish a global reign for Yeshua. It takes time, it is not an easy thing. A lot of people expect it to be very easy and that it runs on air and that it can happen all on its own. That is simply not the case.
We will talk more about the tithes again near the end of this presentation. But we see sort of a distribution system within the Levitical order. You have a sort of economic leveling that happens which is not necessarily appropriate within the 12 tribes, but it is appropriate when we are talking about a governmental kind of a thing. So, you have three levels. First, the Levites at the most basic level would receive the tithes from the people. And then these tithes were then taken to a central collection point so that they could be redistributed equally among all the Levites.
The reason this was necessary is that the people would come up from their tribal territories and they would give their tithes to the Levite that they encountered, or they would be directed to a central collection point. But you had to have some kind of redistribution or re-leveling for the people who were doing support work in the back to be able to do their jobs. There were the priests, the high priest, those chopping wood and drawing water, or cooking and preparing the shewbread, maybe somebody was cleaning or working security. Whatever tasks were in the background, those receiving the tithes had to bring that back to a central collection point so it could be evenly distributed. That way everyone could afford to do their job.
Now we are going to talk about this in other places as this pertains to, for example, the Messianic Movement. Because what happens in the Messianic world is that you get basically a lot of rogue apostles. You get a lot of evangelists, pastors, and teachers that are not really doing their jobs. They are not operating on a single basis of a Five-Fold Ministry, so they are taking these funds for themselves. A lot of them are prosperity doctrine teachers and they are preaching whatever. They are selling books and tapes contrary to Scripture, they are doing all these kinds of things and they are keeping the money for themselves. And that is wrong. What should happen is that all of the funds are supposed to come to a centralized point. We will talk about that more.
But the way the Levites receive the tithes from the people and bring them to a central collection point, that is going to parallel with regard to the deacons. The deacon’s job is to receive the tithes and then take them to the elders. we will talk about that when we talk about how the Melchizedekian Order operates. The second level the Levites would then effectively tithe to the priestly caste. The priestly caste would redistribute that and then they would tithe in turn to the High Priest. So what we see here is that there are at least three different levels, so your pay depended upon what you might call your pay grade. You were a Levite pay grade, or a priestly pay grade, or a High Priest pay grade. Just like we see in many of the governments of the world. There are government pay grades depending upon what the position or a military pay grade, this kind of a thing. We are going to see the same kind of thing operates within the Melchizedekian Order, only in a different manner.
So again, there are similarities and parallels to modern civil government, the same kind of a thing. Josephus tells us the job, or the purpose of the tithes was so that the Levites and priests could focus on the work full-time. And the job of modern civil government is supposed to pay a living wage so that they can afford to do their job fairly and correctly, without graft and corruption. And in Scripture, if they were to perform graft or corruption, the consequences are supposed to be very severe. We will talk about that when we talk about the common rules for a set-apart community. But as long as we are in the dispersion we are under Yeshua’s Melchizedekian Order which is a form of spiritual government.
Now, in the gentile nations of the world, we are told to obey the civilian (secular, gentile) governments that are appointed over us, so we need to do that. These governments are the temporal governments that deal with the here and now in this temporary world. We need to obey them because that is part of our walk, we talk about that in other places. These temporal governments handle the military and economic things and of course, in turn, they are controlled by the black horse central bankers. That is a whole separate study.
About the term Melchizedekian, many people believe it is a combination of two terms. Melekh, meaning king, and also Tzaddik, meaning righteous one (i.e. priest). We are told that we are a nation of kings and priests. Priests of course have to be righteous. And in context, righteousness is keeping Yahweh’s Torah and obeying Yahweh’s instructions, which is to establish a global government for Yahweh, (effectively, for Yeshua). Because that role was handed to Yeshua because mankind fell and had to be redeemed.
Shemote (Exodus) 19:6
6 “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a set-apart nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”Hitgalut (Revelation) 1:5-6
5 and from Yeshua Messiah, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
6 and has made us kings and priests to His Elohim and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
So again, we are going to see these same kinds of levels of service in the Melchizedekian Order as we see in the Levitical Order. We saw that there were three different levels, we are going to see similar levels in the Melchizedekian Order. And it is important to understand that in the Tanakh (older covenant) the tribes of Israel were the armies of the Living Elohim. That is what they are called, the Armies of the Living Elohim. We also have Yahweh of Hosts, hosts meaning armies. So, Yahweh of armies. And then there are many references to military performance throughout both covenants. For instance, in Second Corinthians chapter 10.
Qorintim Bet (2 Corinthians) 10:4-6
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in Elohim for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of Elohim, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Messiah,
6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Even though our weapons are not carnal, we still have to have order because He is an Elohim of order and not of disorder. All the assemblies of the saints (the set-apart ones, the separated ones, those who are no longer part of the world), are separated from the world. And if they are separated from the world they are probably living in a set-apart community. One of the things we need to understand is what the Melchizedekian Order is, and what the Melchizedekian Order is not. There are all kinds of jokes about government workers. Some of them work very hard and they are very diligent, they earn their pay. Others, hmmm, not so much. So people I believe have a wrong impression of what government service should be. Those who are called to a spiritual military order need to manifest what we might call a spiritual warrior spirit. For example, let us read the advice given from the apostle Shaul (Paul) to the apostle TimaTheus (Timothy) in Second Timothy chapter 2.
TimaTheus Bet (2 Timothy) 2:3-4
3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Yeshua Messiah.
4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier.
Yeshua’s Melchizedekian priests must be completely separated from the world and its lusts. Their hearts must be turned to serve their Elohim completely. Now, remember, Moshav is a separate matter. In Moshav you can do however Yahweh leads you. As long as you are paying your three tithes and you are obeying the rest of the Torah, you are in good standing, you are an upstanding citizen of the Moshav. But referring to the Kibbutz level, it is a much, much higher expectation. Because now we are talking about set-apart, priestly community. We are talking about people who need to set the example, following Yeshua’s example, in just as much sacrifice as Yeshua made for us. I have had people say,
“No, come on, sit down, relax. Take your shoes off, watch the grass grow.”
That is a quote. Well, I am like, you do not understand how much work there is to be done and just how great of a sacrifice Yeshua made for us, and just exactly what He wants us to do for Him and His people.
So, again, if you are called to the Moshav level, hopefully, you will have a Kibbutz (Nazarene leadership) in your Moshav. That is a separate matter, and everyone needs to do how they feel led to do. But if you are a person who feels called to serve in the Melchizedekian Order, priestly Kibbutz level, please just understand what kind of conviction it is that we are talking about. Yeshua and His disciples often did not have time to eat, they had to pull away just in order to get time to eat and to catch their breath, so to speak. People make jokes about lazy government workers sometimes. This is not that. So if that is what a person is looking for, then they have come to the wrong place, so to speak. Because, again, Paul makes this clear in verse 4.
TimaTheus Bet (2 Timothy) 2:3-4
4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier.
The Levites would not involve themselves in buying and selling land. They did not involve themselves in buying and selling electronics firms. Not only because the technology did not exist back then, but because that was not supposed to be their main focus. Their main focus was to teach Yahweh’s people the difference between the profane and the set-apart. They had to do their own studying, they had to learn how to preach, teach, and serve. Not saying that all of them did that, but I am saying that is what their job was, that is what Yahweh Elohim wanted them to do. And likewise, following the same principles and the same precepts, this is what Yeshua wants His priesthood to do in renewed covenant times. “That he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier.“
So again, we talk about serving Yahweh our Elohim with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength. Is this something we are doing really, or is this something we are playing games at? Or maybe some people are doing it from nine to five or something like that. What Yeshua’s example was is something to be really conscious of. And if you feel called to join the set-apart community, again, we are called to imitate Yeshua and that is it.
Okay, let us further differentiate between what a Moshav is and what a Kibbutz priestly community is. The Moshav is where you can do whatever that you feel led to do. You can help with the priestly activities, there are many things that you and your family can do. But if someone feels called to the Kibbutz, set-apart priestly level, there are other things. For example, let us look at Luke chapter 14, verse 33.
Luqa (Luke) 14:33
33 [Yeshua says] “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”
Again, in Kibbutz, we are not to have an inheritance in the land. We are not supposed to be focused on passing things on to our children. If someone wants to pass an inheritance to their children or if they are interested in helping their children start a company or this kind of a thing, then the set-apart priestly community might not be for them. Or I have heard from several different people that they would consider a priestly community, except they want to leave their children the option of going for college or university. And in that kind of a circumstance I would have to ask, is that really what is best for your child’s salvation? Bearing in mind the fact that we are all going to stand before the throne one day. And sooner or later, we are all going to have to answer for everything that we have done and for everything that we have failed to do for establishing Yeshua’s Kingdom. And there are other ways to learn, and that is a discussion we can have at another place, another time. I understand that everyone is focused on the well-being of their children. 99 percent of people are going to marry and have children and it is very appropriate for them to be concerned for the welfare of their children.
So this is something that they should consider carefully before attempting to join the set-apart priestly Kibbutz level of community. The whole orientation is different. If that is something important to someone, they want to pass along an inheritance to their children, maybe they have companies, large sums of cash, shares of stock, or whatever, that is appropriate for the Moshav level. But for the Kibbutz set-apart priestly level, it is more in terms of what the Levites were supposed to do. We are not supposed to have an inheritance in this world because Yahweh Elohim is our inheritance. These are the kinds of distinctions that we need to make. Those in the set-apart priestly community need to put Yeshua’s Kingdom and the opportunity to become a Proverbs 31 bride for Him above everything else in the world.
Now we see how this set-apart priestly community level plays out. We are going to see different levels in this, but we are also going to see income leveling, so to speak. And we are going to see people holding all things in common. For example, let us look at Acts chapter 2. We are not going to see a whole lot of prosperity gospel teachers, we are not going to see a whole lot of people selling books and tapes. We are not going to see Saturday Night Live tv shows or anything like that.
Ma’asei (Acts) 2:44-47
44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,
45 and sold their [excess] possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
47 praising Elohim and having favor with all the people. And Yahweh added to the assembly daily…
So, we see the example here of the original disciples in the first century. They are trying to get Yeshua’s work done, and they sold their possessions. I believe they are talking about their excess possessions because you still needed a house to live in. We are not just talking about simple secular socialism that has no point and no purpose. We are talking about doing what it takes to further Yeshua’s Kingdom. We truly put Yeshua first and are focusing entirely on Him. And we abide in Him and Him in us, and Him in the Father and the Father in Him. And we are breathing, reading the word, and listening in the Spirit and we are doing what it says. How much more simple can it get, and how much more blessed of inheritance can we get? That is simplicity of heart. So we are abandoning our physical inheritances for the opportunity to lay down our lives and to make a living sacrifice in the world, to gain a better spiritual inheritance, and to please Him much more. Because if we truly love Him, then do we not want to do what He wants us to do?
So these are the kinds of things. And again, we are talking about the duck test. Does the ministry you follow look like this? Or does it not?
We see the same example play out in Acts chapter 4.
Ma’asei (Acts) 4:32-33
32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Master Yeshua. And great favor was upon them all.(Funding the Kingdom work.)
Why were those who believed of one heart and one soul? Because they had just seen Yeshua. They had just believed on the Son of Elohim, having been there. And their focus was to build His Kingdom. They were all there together with one heart and one soul, just like we hope to be in these end-times. They had a common objective, their goal was to establish Yeshua’s Kingdom which is the whole point of the Great Commission. So what they were basically doing is they were selling their excess possessions in order to fund the Kingdom’s work.
Ma’asei (Acts) 4:34-35
34 Nor was there anyone among them
who lacked; for all who were possessors of [excess] lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,
35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
There are two ways to look at this. They may have sold their excess property, or it may also be that they sold their regular houses and their regular lands. Because if they were coming up on a jubilee cycle they would get those lands back, and in the meantime, they had money to help fund the Kingdom. But in any event, the point is that they valued the opportunity to help build Yeshua’s Kingdom more than any earthly possession. Because he who loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, but he who places his love upon Yahweh Elohim and His Son Yeshua, and who knows how to dwell in the Spirit and the Spirit in him, that is a great inheritance. And that is a great salvation.
So, now we are going to begin to see levels. First, we have seen that there is an evenness or leveling between all of them at the beginning. And now we begin to see the development of the priestly order. We begin to see the organs of the priesthood cast begin to take place. Let us continue with Acts chapter 6.
Ma’asei (Acts) 6:1-2
1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews [more devote] by the Hellenists [similar to reformed Jews], because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.
2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said,
“It is not desirable that we should leave the word of Elohim and serve tables…”
Basically, the 12 apostles had too much to do. They are trying to make sure that the devout are taken care of and they probably forgot about the rest of them. But the disciples were like ‘Whoa, wait, hold on. We cannot leave the work to serve tables.’ Because this is something that needs to be done. There needs to be a witnessing in the word, preaching, this is part of the job. Because we have been called to dive deep into the Scriptures and to bring you the word. And also to do the things it takes to build the kind of a priestly network, to tie all the congregations together. Which is Yeshua’s Kingdom, Yeshua’s family, the living tabernacle (temple) built with living stones. That all takes work. If you look at the Messianic Movement you will see that there are a lot of people who think you just rest on Sabbath and feasts, share a few memes on Facebook, and everything is good. And that is not it. Again, remember the duck test. Take a look at Acts. Does the ministry we follow look like this? Let us continue, verse 3.
Ma’asei (Acts) 6:3-4
3 “Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Set-apart Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;
4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”(Priesthood = first tithe, ministers to the poor = third tithe.)
So the 12 were loaded with work and now we see other, faithful stewards being appointed for other jobs. Effectively, they would help with the matter of the third tithe of the ministry to the poor, the widows, and the orphans. Here it talks about the widows but in context, we talking about taking care of the poor, the widow, and the orphan. We will talk again about the third tithe closer to the end of this chapter. But this way the disciples could give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And it is amazing how many people do not believe that it benefits them anything to have a full-time priesthood committing themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. This is what Scripture says. So again, are we passing the duck test or are we laying a big egg? We will talk about the distribution of the tithes later. The first tithe, concerning the priesthood. The distribution of the third tithes to the widows, orphans, and the poor. And then the second tithe was for the people to help make the feasts a delight for themselves and especially for their children.
But for those who believe that we are talking about easy, slack, lackadaisical government service, you can take a look from this passage, and you can tell. The apostles were busy because they did not even have enough time to take care of the Hellenistic widows. There are plenty of Christian pastors and plenty of rabbis who really are not doing the job. There are plenty of government workers who really are not doing the job right and they have lots of free time and lots of this, and lots of that. But if you are going to be a member of a priestly community you are going to be busy.
We are talking about self-sacrifice and about laying down our lives and making a living sacrifice. And at the same time, we are trying to make ourselves into Proverbs 31 bridal candidates for Yeshua. That is our goal. We are trying to please our Husband and we are just trying to do what we can to please Him. In context, we are asking, What does He want? He wants a Kingdom. What is a kingdom? A kingdom is an ordered family.
So, what are all the things that pertain to this? Well, we are publishing these things and we are hoping to find others of like-mind who will prove these things for themselves. And then decide that there really is not anything in the world that is worth even close to as much as this. And no difficulty we can go through in the world can even possibly compare to the glory that is going to be revealed in us on the day of Yeshua Messiah. So we are hoping to find others who are sitting down to count the cost and that is what we are trying to cover in this study.
When I first got called to this line of work my dad told me something that has to this day proven a true statement. He said:
“Son, if you are being called to that line of work, there is always going to be much more demand for services than there ever is supply.”
There has always been much more demand for services than there has ever been supply. And that is because we are serving people, and people are of course fleshly creatures. And when we are in our flesh everything is all about us, so we have to learn how to make it not about us but about Him. Because it is our job to lay down our lives in the world and become His Proverbs 31 bride and to help Him be the one that it is all about.
Now again, life in the Moshav is one thing. If you are a member of the community, meaning you are going to pay your three tithes faithfully, maybe you get involved in the activities of the body, in evangelizing or in outreach activities, or in the weekly studies, whatever it is that you choose to do, that is great. Maybe you have people that you help, or you have a ministry to the poor, the widow, and the orphan. Whatever it is that you do, there is a lot more freedom in the Moshav side of things. But when we start talking about the set-apart priestly community (the Kibbutz) side of things, again, we are talking about Acts chapters 2, 4, and 6. We are talking about people who are enrolled in the priestly community. They have laid down their inheritances in the world in order to have a greater inheritance, both for themselves and for their children.
But again, there are all these popular misconceptions and there are plenty of ministries that are lazy about things. I have met I do not know how many Christian pastors, Messianic ministers, Messianic rabbis (however they want to call themselves) who are preaching a broad, easy road. They are preaching their book sales, Saturday Night Live tv shows, prosperity gospel.
They are preaching the,
‘No, you do not have to do the Great Commission.’
‘You do not have to have a Five-Fold Ministry.’
‘You do not need to be based on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. Nothing like that. No, no. Just buy my books and tapes and just relax, send a few memes on Facebook and everything is going to be good.’
But we are back to the duck test again.
We are hoping to establish a set-apart priestly community in Colombia, that is our goal. We will see what Yahweh wants or where He wants us. We thought it was going to be in Chile, it is not going to be in Chile. So it is up to Yahweh, whatever it is that He wants. Because that is what we want, is to please Him. We hope that there will also be set-apart end-time communities in every nation on earth. And we are currently working our way through the paperwork trying to get that established. But again, there will be settlements with those who operate basically at the Moshav level, and you may have some priestly set-apart Kibbutzim inside of them. And then you may have some intentional Kibbutz priestly set-apart communities. Father willing, we are hoping to give more details later. But we are hoping to meet more people who want to do things the right way. They have sat down and counted the cost and find that it is worth it to them. They want to do things the right way.
We also know, as there have been in the past, there are people who are going to use our studies and then preach their own thing. There are a lot of people that do that, people that rip us off, so to speak. And, well, we will let Yahweh deal with them. But one of the things that we would advise to any minister who is hoping to establish a Nazarene Israel community in their area is, take great care with who you allow in the community. I think we have talked about this, but it bears repeating. Kibbutz living or life in a set-apart community is not what everyone thinks it is.
We read Acts chapter two and four where we are breaking bread, we are taking great joy, and we are dancing, singing, and we are doing all these things. We are having lots of Scripture studies. Those kinds of things do exist, those things are a reality, but they are not what we set out to do. What we need is to select people with a burning desire to serve Yeshua and to help please Him by helping to build His Kingdom. These are the kinds of people who are going to make up the true Assembly of Philadelphia. Those who will be protected through the fires (tribulation) and survive through the end times, and be protected from the hour of trial, as Revelation says.
And at the same time, we also have to select people who agree to the same common doctrine. Because just as Amos presents, “Can two walk together unless they be agreed?” Well, no, obviously not. So first, we have to agree with Yahweh on His word. But then everyone has a different interpretation, so then we have to agree one to another. We have to submit first to Yahweh in His word, then we have to submit one to another in His Spirit. But even then you still have to have a well-formulated doctrine. And that is what the Nazarene Israel book studies have been all about. And now, Father willing, we are attempting to put those and other materials on video to make things easier for people.
But you need people that want to do it. You need people that understand that you have got to have a common ministerial goal, and you also have to have people who understand that there has to be a common doctrine. That is what Acts chapter 15, and the so-called Jerusalem council was, it was just a regular Beit Din Gadol council meeting. We need people that understand that there has to be a single common doctrine. And if you have a problem with the Nazarene Israel doctrine, bring it up to us. Write to us in love. If it is reasonable, we will listen to it because we do not care about being right, we just want to do what is right. So, if you can show us where we are mistaken we will thank you for it.
We also need people who understand that we need to have certain rules to live together in a set-apart community. And we also need people who understand that there is a Matthew 18 Process for resolving those disputes. We will talk about the Matthew 18 Process in further continuations of the Set-Apart Communities series.
Now, let us ask ourselves the questions. Does the ministry that we are following and the worship that we are practicing look like a duck? Does it quack like a duck? And does it swim like a duck? Is it the faith once delivered to the saints? Does it conform to the example that we see in Scripture or is it something else? Because there are a lot of people in Scripture and there are a lot of people in the book of the Revelation that are not going to make it. So if we want to truly give an inheritance that is a lasting inheritance, both for ourselves and for our children, should not we consider seriously what it is that renewed covenant says to do? because we know that is what Yeshua died for.
Again, we have all been burned. We could sing a Linda Ronstadt song.
“I have been cheated and mistreated”.
Well, I have been lied to, I have had all kinds of things go wrong. I have had people tell me to my face how much they love me and all the time they and their family are stealing from me. I have had all kinds of things going on. And a lot of us have been abused.
I have had people say,
‘Well, you know, we cannot really have organization. We cannot really have leadership now. Because people are not perfect.’
I am saying well wait a minute, were the people perfect in the book of Acts? Were the people perfect in Acts chapter 2, 4, and 6? Were they perfect in Acts chapter 15 and 21? No, we are not perfect. That is why we need a system that works right. And that is what Nazarene Israel has been all about since I got called in 1999. That is what Nazarene Israel has been about. To help re-establish the tabernacle of David which has fallen down, according to what Scripture says. And that is again why we have so many detailed book studies. And that is again why we are trying to put things on video, is to help more people understand.
The whole purpose of Nazarene Israel is to get away from Messianic Israel and the rest of the church system. It is also to get away from Messianic Judaism and the rest of the Babylonian Jewish system. And I say that with respect, I say that with love. But as we have detailed in many of our studies, there are a great number of corruptions and a great number of errors that you can find both in Messianism and the church system, and then on the other side in Messianic Judaism and in the Babylonian rabbinic system. And part of the problem is that in almost in every case, they get the whole basic model wrong.
For example, in the Egyptian Babylonian system, you have your top-down Egyptian pyramid. You have your elitist leadership on the top and then you have the poor serving the strong. You have the weak serving the great and these kinds of things. And that is not what Yeshua did. Yeshua did not have a Saturday Night Live tv show, He did not sell a bunch of books and tapes and He did not preach prosperity doctrine. Yeshua’s walk was entirely different than that.
Now, if you take the pyramid and invert it, now we have a tree-like structure. And Yeshua’s not on top, Yeshua is on the bottom. Yeshua is down there in the ground, He is finding the nutrients and the minerals for us He is pushing up those things. He is pushing the moisture up for us. He is our bottom foundation (hence the ‘Chief Cornerstone). And then effectively, you have an inverted pyramid, tree-like structure. Those who are the strongest support those who are less strong and help them to develop and grow. And this is the concept of the living tree model. It is a bottom-up structure where the strong support the weak, not the other way around.
With the Babylonian structures your Messianic ministers, Christian churches, the southern kingdom with our Jewish brethren side of the house, I say it with respect, but you end up basically with self-centered people who are not listening in the Spirit. They have got other priorities of greed and covetousness, and basically, you have the rich supported by the poor. And that is the exact opposite of Yeshua’s example. Did Yeshua have riches? Did Yeshua garner a bunch of wealth for Himself? No! He worked as hard as He could. I mean to the point where they had to pull away sometimes just to get a breather, just to get something to eat. That is true servant leadership.
I am speaking this to potential future leaders. Because those of you who desire to be congregational elders, you desire a good work. There is a great need for congregational elders. So this also applies to those who do not feel called to the priestly Kibbutz level because perhaps you want to pass along an inheritance in the world to your children. Whether a monetary inheritance or you want to help them to go to college or something else, but you still want to perform an excellent good work and you still want to find a way to serve Elohim with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength. To me, the thing is to follow the calling that we are called in.
So let us look at Matthew chapter 20, and we will see Yeshua Himself make the distinction between the Babylonian pyramid structure, and how His followers are called to serve.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 20:25-26
25 [Yeshua said to His disciples]
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.
26 Yet it shall not be so among you;
but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
We have the inverse model. It is bottom-up, it is not a pyramid but rather a living tree structure built on servitude.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 20:27-28
27 And whoever desires to be first among you,
let him be your slave—
28 Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
We need to understand exactly what it is that we are talking about here. There is a two-way reciprocal relationship that goes on. But what Yeshua is addressing is the need to not take part in the abuses that go on in the Babylonian system.
So, when I first got called to repentance in 1999, I remember I was wondering, Why Sheep? What is the deal with sheep? Well, the shepherd analogy really is appropriate for those of us who feel called, whether to serve as deacons, or as congregational elders with an inheritance, or into the priestly Kibbutz system. Basically, sheep are very vulnerable animals, and they need a tremendous amount of care. You have to protect them from predators. That is, you have to protect them from prosperity gospel preachers, from Messianic book salesmen, from all kinds of different people. And it is really hard helping them understand sometimes.
I remember one sister telling me this story. She said that she and her husband and her children had sheep. And someone, maybe one of the children or whoever, but someone left the barn door open. And the sheep got into the grain, and they literally ate themselves to death. They died with their little heads right there in the sacks. So sheep need a tremendous amount of care. Because this happens. You get people that start consuming the wrong thing, so to speak. You get people that wander into Kabbalah, you get people that wander into the Talmud without knowing how to glean and how to leave the bad stuff. You get people that you wander into Christian teachings or whatever, the gnostic gospels, the book of Enoch, or these kinds of things. You get people that do not know what they are doing, and they can literally consume themselves to death. There is a reason the books like Enoch and Jasper are not part of the canon. They are good to read and there is a benefit to them, but there is a reason they are not part of the canon.
But sheep need a tremendous amount of leadership, they need a tremendous amount of help. There are all kinds of people that they mean well and who want to serve because they love Yahweh. But they have some problems. They are focused on themselves, or they focus on the negative instead of the positive. Maybe they are resistant to change. Whatever the problem is, it is the job of ministers to help them understand. So you basically have to become kind of a psychoanalyst, so to speak. You have to listen in the Spirit, and you have to help people with their problems whatever they are. These are tremendously taxing things, these are things that no one would do if they did not truly have a love for Yahweh Elohim and His Son Yeshua. You just would not do it, it is just too hard.
So, again. Advice for ministers and those who want to live in a priestly set-apart community. Whether you are forming the core of Moshav or whether you are isolated on your own. Or whether you are serving as the leadership of the country to coordinate all the ministers (we talk about this in the video on the “Beit Din Structure” as well as in the Torah Government study). But to those who choose to serve in Yeshua’s priesthood, you need to have a genuine love for Elohim and a genuine love for your brothers, or else you are just not going to make it. So, anyone who wants to come to visit, I would advise that you visit and take part in the routines for some extended period of time and then understand what it is that you are really getting yourself into. Because it is a lot of work, it is not a small thing. And there are a lot of people that need help, and they need help from us. So it is basically an all-consuming lifestyle, it requires a living sacrifice.
Again, there is a two-way relationship. For those of us who are making the sacrifice, there needs to be an understanding by those who are being served of what the sacrifice is. And that we are happy and thrilled to do it, we are not complaining in any way. But it is a tremendous sacrifice, and it does take a lot. And that is why there needs to be respect for the order, the Matthew 18 Process, and for life and rules in the community.
Just to differentiate again between the set-apart and the profane, one of the reasons the Messianic leadership falls down is because the leaders forget that it is our job to look out for others, not ourselves. And they might even think they are looking out for others, but they are not in reality. Why? Because they do not pass the duck test. They do not look like the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. You start to get into the Christian realm and to talk about prosperity doctrine (gospel) ministers. People with jet airplanes, huge mansions, and this kind of a thing. Boasting about their income. There was one minister who I think was knocking down a six-figure income as a Messianic minister. That was his net. I think it was something like $220,000 (USD) a year and that was what he took home after all expenses were paid. I am like, how does this help build Yeshua’s Kingdom based on the Single Foundation of Apostles and Prophets? You know, what does this do for Yeshua?
So you have to be smarter than the wolves, you have to be smarter than deceivers. And you have to pray for the deceivers that one day they will give up their deception. Because I know a lot of these people, I am convinced that there are a lot of them who mean well, but they cannot see the spirits that are upon them. So you have to pray for them because that is another aspect of our walk. That is part of our job. But again, follow the duck test. Does it look like the faith once delivered to the saints or does it not look like the faith once delivered to the saints? That is the main thing.
We have our King Yeshua, and He lived a life of self-abnegation and sacrifice. You have Moshe (Moses), and he lived a life of self-abnegation and sacrifice. And then you have the apostle Shaul (Paul) and others who laid down their lives in the world and lived a life of self-abnegation and sacrifice. They conducted genuine service to those whom they served without any other desire, without any other goal than to please Yahweh the Father. But as part of pleasing Yahweh the Father, they have to help organize people in order to build the true global organized Kingdom that Yeshua wants us to build. Which is the Great Commission based upon the Five-Fold Ministry, built upon a single Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. Thus yielding a single ministry for Yeshua in which all of the true ministers work together as part of that one single ministry. Does our faith look like that? That is the question.
Finally, there is an old saying that for a marriage to work each partner needs to give 100% of themselves. A lot of people operate in their marriage by giving a partial effort, a 50-50 effort. Well, giving just 50-50 is never going to work in a marriage. What you need in a marriage is 100-100 percent. You need each partner to give all that they have to their partner all the time because you are not just giving part of yourself in order then to get what you want. And this is where I think a lot of Messianic go wrong, they are giving a little bit to Yahweh because what they want is the benefits of belonging to the Messianic community. They are not understanding that that is not what Yahweh wants, that is not loving and serving Him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength. There is one way to serve Yahweh with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength and that is to truly do it. And everyone knows when they are doing that and when they are not if they are honest with themselves. To make a marriage truly work you have got to approach the relationship for the benefit of the other person.
So, for those of you who want truly to lay down your lives in the world to serve Yeshua, to become Proverbs 31 brides, talk with us. We are interested to find others who want to walk that way. We are willing to be open, we are willing to be transparent, we are willing to answer any questions that genuine seeking people have. Because we are about trying to please Yeshua by doing what it is that He asks us to do, which is to build His kingdom for Him in His absence.
We are also going to talk about the benefits of living together in a community with those who may not be priests, but yet are still part of the priestly community. There are a lot of details that we will continue this series on, as well as answering some questions that we receive. Please continue reading the next chapter as we answer the age-old question:
Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
Please join us in the next chapter for the continuation of our study on Set-Apart Communities.